Using Floral Baited Colour Traps for Detection and Seasonal ...

ACTA ZOOLOGICA BULGARICA
Acta zool. bulg., 64 (4), 2012: 439-443
Using Floral Baited Colour Traps for Detection
and Seasonal Monitoring of Oxythyrea funesta (Poda)
(Coleoptera: Cetoniidae) in Bulgaria
Mitko Subchev 1 , Teodora Toshova 1 , Radoslav Andreev 2 , Vilina Petrova 3 , Vasilina Maneva 4 ,
Teodora Spasova 5 , Nikolina Marinova 5 , Petko Minkov, Dimitar Velchev 6
1 Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, 2 Gagarin str., 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
2 Agricultural University, 12 Mendeleev str., 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
3 Institute of Agriculture, Sofijsko shose, 2500 Kyustendil, Bulgaria
4 Institute of Agriculture, 1 Industrialna str., 8400 Karnobat, Bulgaria
5 Institute of Mountainous Animal Breeding and Agriculture, 281 Vasil Levski str., 5600 Troyan, Bulgaria
6 Maize Research Institute, 5835 Knezha, Bulgaria
Abstract: A new tool for detection and seasonal monitoring of Oxythyrea funesta (Po d a), floral baited colour traps, a
commercial product of Plant Protection Institute, Center for Agricultural Research, HAS, Budapest, Hungary,
was used for studying the distribution and patterns of seasonal appearance of the pest in eight sites
in Bulgaria in 2009 and 2010. The most numerous catches of O. funesta were recorded in Plovdiv in both
years and in Troyan in 2010. Catches ranging from 21 to 52 beetles were recorded also in Dryanovo, Karnobat,
Kyustendil, Petrich and Troyan in 2009; Knezha and Troyan in 2010. In 2009 the earliest catches
of O. funesta were recorded in Petrich for the period April 12 – April 20. In 2010 the first catches were recorded
in Knezha for the period April 16 – April 22. The latest catches for the two years were recorded on
September 6, 2010 in Troyan. The traps showed low selectivity especially in sites where another cetoniid
pest, Tropinota (Epicometes) hirta (Po d a), attracted to the same traps, occurred.
Key words: Oxythyrea funesta, detection, seasonal monitoring, Bulgaria, floral baited traps
Introduction
Oxythyrea funesta (Po d a) is a common species distributed
through whole Europe from UK to Caucasus
and from Sweden to Mediterranean region; it occurs
also in North Africa and Asia Minor (Ba r a u d 1992).
The species has been known in Bulgaria since the very
beginning of XX century and it is widely distributed
in this country (Ne d ya l k o v 1906, Bu r e s h, la z a r o v
1956, Po P o va 1961, za h a r i e va 1965, za h a r i e vast
o i l o va 1969, 1974, za h a r i e va, di m o va 1975).
O. funesta is known as a polyphagous pest
(hu r P i N 1962). The species was included in the list
of harmful fauna of the apple orchards (tu c a et al.
2009) and vineyards (sta N et al. 2009 ) in S. D. Banu
Mărăcine, South Roumania. According to ra z o v et
al. (2009) O. funesta together with some other cetoniid
species can cause locally and economically
important damage in peach orchards in Croatia.
Pa d i y (1972) mentioned this species also as a forest
pest. According to Po P o va (1961) O. funesta is
a widely distributed pest in Bulgaria. She listed 24
cultivated plant species and 12 wild plant species as
hosts of the pest in this country (Po P o va 1961). Later
Ni k o l o va (1968) reported O. funesta also as a permanent
pest on Rosa x damascena Mill. in Bulgaria.
Gr i G o r o v (1972) stated that O. funesta damages
mainly vegetables and field crops but also orchards.
When comparing traps of different colour
to t h et al. (2005) found that O. funesta beetles are
439

Subchev M., T. Toshova, R. Andreev, V. Petrova, V. Maneva, T. Spasova, N. Marinova, P. Minkov, D. Velchev
attracted mostly to yellow and fluorescent yellow
coloured traps. Later, as a result of intensive electrophysiological
and field investigations, vu t s et al.
(2008) described a binary bait for O. funesta comprising
2 phenylethanol and (±)-lavandulol. These
findings leaded to the development of a floral baited
colour traps for the pest which are offered as a commercial
product for practical use by Plant Protection
Institute, Budapest, Hungary.
In 2009-2010 an extensive field work was organized
in several regions in Bulgaria for proving
the potential and species-specificity of floral baited
colour traps as a new tool for detection and seasonal
monitoring of some cetoniid pests. After publishing
the results on Tropinota (Epicometis) hirta (Poda)
(su B c h e v et al. 2011) here we report on the results
obtained for O. funesta.
Materials and Methods
Commercially available VARb3k traps with a fluorescent
yellow upper funnel and baits for O. funesta
containing (±)-lavandulol and 2-phenylethanol were
purchased from Plant Protection Institute, Center
for Agricultural Research, HAS, Budapest, Hungary
and used in our field work. Two traps (together with
two traps for each T. hirta and Cetonia aurata L./
Protaetia (Netocia) cuprea (Fa B r i c i u s)) were set in
8 sites in Bulgaria (Dryanovo, Gabrovo, Karnobat,
Knezha, Kyustendil, Petrich, Plovdiv and Troyan) in
2009 and/or 2010 covering all flight period of the
pest (for details see su B c h e v et al. 2011). The traps,
installed on the ground or at a height of 50-100 cm
above the ground level, were visited weekly and the
beetles caught were collected and identified in laboratory
using Ba r a u d (1992) and me d v e d e v (1965).
Only in Gabrovo the traps were visited irregularly at
10-15 day intervals.
Results
The most numerous catches of O. funesta were recorded
in Troyan in 2010 and Plovdiv in both 2009
and 2010. Catches ranging from 21 to 52 were recorded
also in Dryanovo, Karnobat, Kyustendil,
Petrich and Troyan in 2009; Knezha and Troyan in
2010. A drastical increase of the population level of
the pest estimated by the catches was observed in
Troyan in 2010 as compared to 2009 (Table 1).
The seasonal flight of O. funesta as established
by catches in the traps is presented in Fig 1. Because
440
of absence of catches in Dryanovo and realatively
low number of beetles caught in Dryanovo (2009,
2010), Karnobat (2010), Kyustendil (2009, 2010)
and Petrich (2010), no figures are presented for these
sites and/or years. Not regular checking the catches in
Gabrovo in 2009 also does not allow a correct presentation
of the flight of the pest at that site. In 2009
the earliest catches of O. funesta were recorded in
Petrich on April 20 which means that the beetles were
caught between April 12 (the previous check of the
traps) and April 20 (not presented). In 2010 the first
catches were recorded in Knezha for the period April
16 – April 22. The latest catches for the two years
were recorded on September 6, 2010 in Troyan. Even
in the sites with the most numerous beetles caught,
the data do not allow to speculate about presence of
any peaks – the presence of some fluctuations in the
catches were due most probably to meteorological
variables like air temperature and rain falls and not to
real changes in the population level.
The percentage of the catches of different species
caught in the sites and years with most numerous
catches are presented in Fig. 2. Only in Troyan
in 2009 and 2010, and in Plovdiv in 2009 the catches
of O. funesta exceeded 80% of all cetoniid beetles
caught in the same traps. Relatively high percentage
of the target species caught in the traps varying 28-
40% was found also in Dryanovo in 2009 (not presented),
Karnobat in 2009 and Plovdiv in 2010. The
non target species attracted and caught into O. funesta
traps in the highest percentage was T. hirta. In
five from the twelve cases this percentage exceeded
90%. The other not target scarabaeid species caught
in O. funesta traps were: C. aurata, P. cuprea, Valgus
hemipterus (L.), Blitopertha lineolata (Fi s c h e r v o N
Wa l d h e i N) and T. fasciatus (L.).
Discussion
As a faunistic object O. funesta was found in different
regions of Bulgaria: Thrace (za h a r i e va 1965), west
Balkans (za h a r i e va-st o i l o va 1969), middle and east
Balkans (za h a r i e va-st o i l o va 1974, the Rhodopes
(za h a r i e va, di m o va 1975. According to Po P o va
(1961) the pest has a general distribution in Bulgaria.
Our catches of O. funesta at all eight sites included in
the present investigations support the latter statement.
In addition our data showed also that in the sites where
observations were organized the population level of
the pest was relatively low or very low.

Using floral baited colour traps for detection and seasonal monitoring of Oxythyrea funesta...
Table 1. Catches of O. funesta in two target traps in each of eight sites in Bulgaria during 2009 and 2010
- – test not performed.
Site
During a three year period of observations
(1957-1959) around Sofia and using field observations
(no details were given) and the case method,
Po P o va (1961) established the earliest flying O. funesta
beetles in autumn on April 17, 1959 and the
latest ones on August 26, 1959. The maximum flight
period May 16/22 – June 1/6 given in the same paper
was not supported by concrete data. Our present
results on seasonal flight of O. funesta obtained by
using the new precise tool – floral baited colour traps
confirm as a whole Po P o va’s (1961) observations. In
addition our data showed a longer flying period – up
to the first days of September.
At four from eight sites in Hungary, Croatia,
Italy and Bulgaria investigated O. funesta was
caught in percentage ranging from 87% to 35% in
target yellow traps baited with (±)-lavandulol and
2-phenylethanol. In the rest of the sites this percentage
was lower or no catches of the target species
were observed (vu t s et al. 2010). As a whole our
results support this finding but the species selectivity
of the same traps used was even lower. The low
selectivity of the traps for O. funesta to the target
species in our present investigations is due exclusively
on the catches of T. hirta. tot h et al. (2005)
reported that the beetles of the latter species preferred
blue coloured unbaited traps in comparison
with transparent, white, yellow and fluorescent
yellow traps. However, other field tests showed no
significant differences in the catches of T. hirta in
white, light blue and yellow unbaited traps although
again the highest catches were recorded in the blue
traps (sc h m e r a et al. 2004). There is no any overlapping
in the commercial Csalomon ® baits used
Total number of beetles caught
2009 2010
Dryanovo 25 0
Gabrovo 13 -
Karnobat 46 1
Knezha - 52
Kyustendil 22 4
Petrich 21 -
Plovdiv 99 108
Troyan 35 439
for these two species in our work: (±)-lavandulol
and 2-phenylethanol for O. funesta and (E)-anethol
and (E)-cinnamyl alcohol for T. hirta (vut s et al.
(2010). Thus the explanation for the exclusively
high catches of T. hirta in O. funesta traps in our
present investigations could be explained by colour
attracting and the absence of repellency of any of
the components in O. funesta bait to T. hirta beetles.
Moreover, one of these components, 2-phenylethanol,
elicited an electrantennographic response on
both males and female antenna of T. hirta not significantly
different from that elicited by (E)-anethol,
a bait component of this species (vu t s et al. 2010),
and also showed some attractivity toward the species
in field (to t h et al. (2003). Thus, most probably this
leaded to almost equal catches of T. hirta in the target
traps for this species and in O. funesta traps, e.g.
274 and 271 beetles respectively in Troyan, in 2010,
or even to higher catches of T. hirta in O. funesta
traps in comparison to the catches in the target T.
hirta traps, e.g. 2628 and 1408 beetles respectively
in Knezha in 2010 (Fig. 2 in the present paper and
suB c h e v et al. 2011).
Our results allow to conclude that fluorescent
yellow floral baited traps for O. funesta, commercial
product of Plant Protection Institute, Budapest,
Hungary, is effective tool for detection and seasonal
monitoring of this pest. However its selectivity is
low especially in sites where the population level of
another cetoniid pest, T. hirta, is high.
Acknowled+gments: Thanks are due to Ms Petya Trayanova, Mr
Kircho Trayanov, Mr Vasilii Abaev and Ms Silvia Terziiska for
technical assistance in the field work. This project was supported
by Grant DO02-244/2008 of Bulgarian National Scientific Fund.
441

Subchev M., T. Toshova, R. Andreev, V. Petrova, V. Maneva, T. Spasova, N. Marinova, P. Minkov, D. Velchev
Fig. 1. Seasonal flight of O. funesta in four sites in Bulgaria. Arrows (↓) show the dates of installing and reinstalling
the traps in the field. Asterisks (*) mark the date when the baits were renewed.
Fig. 2. Percentage distribution of scarabaeid beetles caught in traps with baits for O. funesta at four sites in Bulgaria
in 2009-2010.
442
Mean number ± SE
Mean number ± SE
Mean number ± SE
10
8
6
4
2
0
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Karnobat, 2009, total catch: 46 beetles
25.03.
31.03.
06.04.
13.04.
21.04.
27.04.
04.05.
11.05.
18.05.
25.05.
01.06.
08.06.
15.06.
22.06.
29.06.
06.07.
13.07.
20.07.
27.07.
03.08.
10.08.
17.08.
24.08.
31.08.
Plovdiv, 2009, total catch: 99 beetles
*
*
*
*
27.03.
31.03.
03.04.
10.04.
17.04.
24.04.
01.05.
08.05.
15.05.
22.05.
29.05.
05.06.
12.06.
19.06.
26.06.
03.07.
10.07.
17.07.
24.07.
31.07.
07.08.
14.08.
21.08.
28.08.
Date
Troyan, 2009, total catch: 35 beetles
* *
*
24.03.
30.03.
07.04.
13.04.
21.04.
27.04.
04.05.
11.05.
18.05.
25.05.
01.06.
08.06.
15.06.
22.06.
29.06.
06.07.
13.07.
20.07.
27.07.
03.08.
10.08.
17.08.
24.08.
31.08.
06.09.
13.09.
20.09.
57%
*
*
Date
*
Date
* * *
*
3% 3% Karnobat, 2009
37%
*
C. aurata
*
O. funesta
T. hirta
V. hemipterus
14% 1%
Plovdiv, 2009
85%
C. aurata
O. funesta
T. hirta
4% 4%
Troyan, 2009
92%
C. aurata
O. funesta
P. cuprea
Mean number ± SE
Mean number ± SE
Mean number ± SE
10
8
6
4
2
0
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Knezha, 2010, total catch: 52beetles
26.03.
02.04.
08.04.
16.04.
22.04.
29.04.
05.05.
14.05.
21.05.
28.05.
04.06.
11.06.
18.06.
25.06.
02.07.
09.07.
16.07.
22.07.
29.07.
06.08.
13.08.
20.08.
27.08.
Plovdiv, 2010, total catch: 108beetles
*
26.03.
30.03.
06.04.
13.04.
20.04.
27.04.
04.05.
11.05.
18.05.
25.05.
01.06.
08.06.
15.06.
22.06.
29.06.
06.07.
13.07.
20.07.
27.07.
03.08.
10.08.
17.08.
25.08.
*
Date
Troyan, 2010, total catch: 439 beetles
*
*
*
*
*
*
Date
24.03.
30.03.
06.04.
12.04.
19.04.
26.04.
03.05.
10.05.
17.05.
25.05.
31.05.
07.06.
14.06.
21.06.
28.06.
05.07.
12.07.
19.07.
26.07.
02.08.
09.08.
16.08.
23.08.
30.08.
06.09.
13.09.
20.09.
70%
*
Date
0.04% 0.3% Knezha, 2010
1.9%
0.2%
1.8%
97.8%
2% Plovdiv, 2010
28%
0.2% 0.2%
97.6%
*
*
*
*
*
O. funesta
T. hirta
C. aurata
V. hemipterus
*
O. funesta
T. hirta
P. cuprea
Troyan, 2010
C. aurata
O. funesta
T. hirta
P. cuprea
V. hemipterus

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